Donovan Mitchell feels the Cleveland Cavaliers can "breathe a little bit" after ending their eight-year wait to reach the Conference finals.

The Cavs overcame the Detroit Pistons 125-94 to seal a 4-3 victory in Game 7 of their series.

Cleveland last reached the Conference finals in 2018, when LeBron James was in his final season with the team.

They had not progressed past the second round in each of the past two seasons, but the Cavs will now take on the New York Knicks for a place in the NBA Finals.

Four different Cavaliers put up at least 20 points while no Pistons player reached 18.

"Even last year, when we lost to Indiana, we had our goals set on getting to the Finals. We're just one step closer," said Mitchell, who poured in 26 points.

"But yeah, it's been almost a decade of running into the same issue. So for sure, I personally, and as a team, we can breathe a little bit."

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Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson added: "It does mean something. This was the next step for us. First day of training camp, I put up the playoff record over the last three years, 11-15.

"I've been saying all year we have a lot to prove. We still have more to prove. That's the next part of it, but we proved something to ourselves, that we could take that another step."

While Detroit's season ended in underwhelming fashion, coach J.B. Bickerstaff was effusive in his praise of his team's campaign. They finished as the number one seed in the East.

"It's not a disappointment at all. And not ever will I be disappointed in these guys," Bickerstaff said.

"These guys, every single day gave us what they got. So, it is not a disappointment. It's a loss and it's a tough loss, but that adjective will never be used with this group."

The Pistons had been looking to join the 2007 and 2008 Boston Celtics as the only number one seeds to win each of their first two playoff series in seven games.

"Obviously, disappointing series right here. Fell short of doing enough of the right things to win the series," Cade Cunningham said.

"But, we were the No. 1 seed for a reason. We won a lot of games this year. We played great basketball all year long and really established an identity and stuff that we didn't have for a long time.

"So, all those things are positives and things that we'll take into the offseason and come back next year and grow from."